>>Clear enough. I have read and do plan to keep reading this thread - it IS a wake-up to think that these skills we have all been honing are no longer of value in the world, and this trade / calling we have chosen and love might be evaporating. What clearly will not stop that evolution is the protestations that we have worked so hard to get to this point and we deserve a market for our offerings. Has anybody read "Who Moved My Cheese?"
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>I haven't, sorry. I assume it's a management or self-help book? I've worked far too hard all my life avoiding both types of books to start on them now. When I was a national department manager at the reinsurance company, I was plagued with more 'management concepts du jour' than I ever wanted to know about.
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>I remember being subjected to "I Packed My Own Chute". This woman was terribly afraid of flying (or parachuting, I can never remember which), so she got an instructor and eventually jumped out of plane. When this film was over, our HR gnome asked "wasn't that inspiring?" Now, I know that not everyone will agree with me, but I told her that I thought it was about the stupidest thing I'd ever seen.
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>Maybe it's just me, but it seems to me that there are fears we must overcome if we are to operate productively from day to day - even to excel. Jumping out of a plane is not one of them. Risking one's life to prove a point is (IMHO) stupid. I wonder if they'd have shown me this film if her chute hadn't opened and she'd died. The 'overcome your fears' concept would still have been valid, but somehow, I doubt we'd have seen a single cel.
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>Somehow or another this was supposed to inspire us to great insurance company management feats.
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>I've often thought there could be money to be made in creating a sort of Management 'Ann Landers' in the newspaper. Kind of like the radio psychologists. "I don't know you, and you don't kow me, but trust me. If you'll just write or call in and talk to me for 10 seconds, I will figure you out completely enough to tell you how to live your life."
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>Hmmm... I think I'm starting to ramble.
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>Long live Scott Adams.
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>Alan

Alan;

I have been working since I turned 16 and I am now 60. During that time I have seen changes in the workforce and management. The “inspirational messages and acts” routine is nauseous to say the least. The term culture leaked into the workplace and that just about says it all.

Here is one term that disgusts me. Power Breakfast. What is a “Power Breakfast”? For those that have not enjoyed this term, a “Power Breakfast” is a business meeting at which breakfast is served. It normally begins before “regular business hours” so everyone can hear the top executives, and industrial physiologists inspire the work force to greater things before the start of a normal business day.

As you are attempting to eat some slop management has decided to serve you as breakfast, you are expected to maintain etiquette, pay attention to what is going on and, clap (or regurgitate) to show your agreement at the amusing proceedings.

You will be called upon to answer questions while your mouth is full and you should enjoy all the proceedings. Be sure you hurry, as you want your stomach to be upset so you can start the day bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Before you have completed breakfast, the CEO ends the meeting and dismisses everyone. Hurry back to work and go team go! With Ex-Lax.


Tom